Forgiveness Is Not An Option - Sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday After Pentecost (October 5, 2025)

Scripture Readings: Habakkuk 1:1–4, 2:1–4 | Psalm 137 | 2 Timothy 1:1–14 | ​Luke 17:5–10

“Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.” (2 Timothy 1:13-14).
 
Have you ever stepped into a group conversation part way through, and thought to yourself: “What in the world are these people talking about?”
 
I’ve had my fair share of those moments. Sometimes it can lead to a good round of laughter. Other times, it leads to a much more serious conversation. But either way, if we really want to know what’s going on, we need to at least be given a sense of the rest of the conversation. Otherwise, we’ll just be left in our confusion and misinformation.
 
And so today, if after hearing our Gospel passage from Luke Chapter 17, you’re feeling a little bit confused… and unsure how we go from Christ’s disciples asking for more faith, to an image of trees being thrown into the sea, and then straight to the image of slaves dutifully waiting tables for their master… there’s a good reason for that.

It’s because our Church’s lectionary… the three year cyclical schedule that guides our Scripture readings each Sunday… has only given us the second half of a longer conversation about God’s great concern for righteousness… keeping ourselves and those around us on the right path … alongside our need… our obligation to practice forgiveness.
 
So before we go any further, let’s hear the first half of the conversation. Luke 17:1-4, “Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come!  It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble. Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.” 

How many of us would have been perfectly happy not to have heard the first half of this conversation? This is a pretty forceful message about truth-telling and forgiveness! Jesus is not messing around with us here. He says clearly that forgiveness is not an option for us… it’s the expectation.

There are lots of people today, even those who claim to be Christians, who find this message about forgiveness not simply challenging, (which it absolutely is!), but who reject it as completely unreasonable… impossible… and out of line with the times we’re living in.
  
Many today, including those who claim to be Christians, seem to think that forgiveness is a sign of weakness and gullibility… and that practicing it foolishly lets wrongdoers off the hook, and even risks ruining our society.
 
And people have lots of reasons why they want to reject the way of forgiveness. Many of us have been deeply hurt by others, and we understandably want to see something serious done about it in order to set things right again.
 
Others see forgiveness as an unwelcome obstacle to their preferred path of retribution and rage… which can often be channeled and stirred up in others to provide themselves with a powerful political platform. For these folks, the way forward is about seeking revenge, and the destruction of those who have sinned against us… bringing hatred to life in their hearts, and even their actions… akin to the violent imagery expressed in Psalm 137, the ancient prayer of grief and anguish that we just read together… a prayer laying bare before the LORD the depths of a people’s despair who have just had their whole world smashed to pieces.
 
Tragically, there are so many people today who have also had their whole world smashed to pieces. And the pain and anguish of all this evil and injustice is weighing so many of us down. It’s truly heartbreaking. And we do need to do something serious about it all.
 
And so, as we try to keep moving forward, a choice always lies before us about which path to follow: the path of forgiveness, or the path of vengeance.
 
There’s nothing new about this choice, and it’s what our Gospel reading today is about: Christ’s challenging call to reject the path of vengeance, and instead to follow Him in seeking both truth and forgiveness.
 
“Be on your guard!” Jesus says to us, “If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.”
 
Christ’s people are called to be a community of forgiveness. Able to both call each other out when we mess up, but just as importantly, to extend real forgiveness again and again. It’s not a vision of ideal, perfect people looking down on those around them. It’s a vision of flawed and broken people learning together how to stay together! How to move forward towards righteousness, and justice, and beauty, and truth… even when we fail each other… learning both how to be accountable, and how to be merciful.
 
But Jesus’ teachings on forgiveness is by no means weak or lenient. It’s incredibly challenging! Which is why His first disciples thought it was well beyond their own abilities, crying out in response: ‘Give us more faith!’ In other words, ‘we don’t believe we can actually do this!’
 
Is that how we feel this morning? If so, we’re in good company. And thankfully, our Lord has some words for us.
In response to the disciples’ request for more faith, Jesus tells them that it’s not about the amount of faith we have… even a tiny amount, the size of a mustard seed would be enough. What we need more of is a willingness to use the faith we have! To choose to trust God’s ways and walk in them… to obey Him… to do what is necessary for the sake of God’s Kingdom, and God’s world!
 
A little faith, when put into practice, can have monumental results… because it’s God Himself who works in and through us to do what is impossible for us on our own. We don’t need more faith in ourselves… we need to trust in Jesus, and do what He says.
 
This is what the whole image of slaves hard at work is about. Once again, slavery was a common practice across the ancient world, and Jesus draws upon it as a familiar image, not to approve of it as a practice, but to illustrate a point about people simply doing what is expected of them.
 
In short, Jesus tells His disciples, back then and today, that there is nothing exceptional about having to practice forgiveness. As a follower of Christ, it’s simply what is expected of us, even if it’s very hard. After a long day of work, an ancient slave would still be required to serve their master, and not expect any special thanks or recognition as a result. And in the same way, even though the way of forgiveness is hard work, and it will at times challenge us to our core… it’s not an option we get to avoid. It’s the only option for us. Or in Christ’s words, it’s simply ‘what we ought to have done.’
 
Forgiveness is so essential to what God’s Kingdom is about, and what God’s up to in our world, that if we think we can still follow Him without practicing it as a given, we’re completely out to lunch. It really is foundational for the people of God. And so, may our prayer request be: ‘Lord, help us to trust You, and help us live out our faith by following Your holy ways!’
 
But if we just stop there, we’re missing something essential about the whole message of forgiveness. Alongside of forgiveness, there is the real need to seek and speak the truth.
 
Jesus commands us not just to forgive, but to let others know when they have wronged us. Not out of a desire to get even or condemn them, but to help both them and us… to acknowledge the sad truth that something has been broken that now needs to be repaired and put back together… inviting those who have wronged us to turn around and help set things right.
 
This too takes courage, but telling the truth about what has been done to us opens up new possibilities for healing, and restoration. When forgiveness is partnered with truth, it’s not about ignoring or enabling evil at work in our world. It’s the only way to overcome it. 
 
This past Tuesday, we Canadians marked the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, solemnly acknowledging the many harms done against our First Nations, Metis, and Innuit neighbours, often in the name of God… and committing to turning around, making amends, and seeking to move forward together with humility and respect.
 
This journey of repentance, healing, and restoration is far from over. Like in all of our relationships, once trust and fellowship are broken, they take time and effort in order to mend. It is challenging work, but there are no alternatives if we are to move forward together.
 
And before Canada began this journey of Truth and Reconciliation, other nations around the world had been hard at work paving the way for us. The South African Anglican Archbishop, Desmond Tutu, was a key figure in his own country’s process of Truth and Reconciliation, seeking to help bring about healing and peace after the oppression and evils of apartheid came to an end. He had this to say in an article from 2004 called Truth and Reconciliation:
 
“Forgiving and being reconciled to our enemies or our loved ones are not about pretending that things are other than they are. It is not about patting one another on the back and turning a blind eye to the wrong. True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the pain, the hurt, the truth. It could even sometimes make things worse. It is a risky undertaking, but in the end it is worthwhile, because in the end only an honest confrontation with reality can bring real healing. Superficial reconciliation can bring only superficial healing.” 

He goes on to say, “…retribution wounds and divides us from one another. Only restoration can heal us and make us whole. And only forgiveness enables us to restore trust and compassion to our relationships. If peace is our goal, there can be no future without forgiveness.”[1]
 
I highly recommend reading the whole article, which you can find online for free. In it, he touches on lots of important aspects of forgiveness that we will not be able to cover together this morning, and he does so taking very seriously both the evil still at work in our world, and the hope that Christ Jesus offers us for healing and a way forward.
 
Jesus Christ our Lord not only commands us to forgive, He chose to forgive us, and to take on everything that goes with it. He refused to ignore the evil at work in and through us all, but instead of seeking our condemnation and destruction, He bore our sins and failures on His own shoulders… and shed His blood for our forgiveness at the cross… and opened up the way for our restoration through His death and resurrection.
 
And when we see Jesus at the cross, we know for sure that it was not easy for Him to forgive! And yet, He still chose to forgive us out of love… love for us all, and for His Heavenly Father… embodying God’s own heart as the true and faithful Son. 
 
The cross exposes the truth of our sin for all to see. It reminds us, that despite all the posturing and finger pointing going on, there is none righteous… no not one. But at the same time, the cross reveals the Living God’s holy love for sinners like us. This love and the forgiveness that springs from it are central to our faith as Christians. And what we have received from Jesus Christ our Lord, we are now called to give. 
 
For Christians today, expected as we are to walk in Christ’s holy ways… forgiveness is not an option. It is the foundation of our life, and the only way forward for our whole world. If we say that we believe in Jesus, one key way to show it is to keep moving towards forgiveness… trusting that the One to whom all hearts are open, all desires are known, and from whom no secrets are hid...  will do what is right to put our world back together in justice, mercy, and truth… and that He is capable of cleansing all of our hearts to make room for His perfect love.
 
With all this in mind, I’ll close now with the same words from St. Paul that I read to begin this sermon: “Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.” Amen.


[1] Desmond Tutu, Forgiveness (Online Article found here: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/truth_and_reconciliation).